The New HP-UX 11 Operating System
by Steve Boniwell
HP have announced that the next major operating system upgrade is about to ship. HP-UX 11.00 will be available around the turn of the year and the seminars have started. Here is a brief overview of some of the functionality that will be available.
HP-UX 11.00 is designed to be the first HP operating system with full 64 bit support. This is, of course, only relevant where the hardware can cope - currently the V class servers, T600 and some K Class. For all other supportable products, 32 bit or mixed 32/64 bit compatibility is available.
HP-UX 11.00 has functionality to support 1Tb files and file systems, 3.75Gb physical RAM and is year 2000 ready. In 64 bit applications up to 4Tb of process data space is available with 8Tb of shared memory.
In the area of networking, HP-UX 11.00 supports IPv6 to increase IP address size from 32 to 128 bits and IP aliasing allows a single system to be seen as multiple systems. DNS4.9.6 is supported and BIND 4.9 improves response times and enhances security. NFS V3 improves performance and allows network access to 128Gb files, and NIS+ has been implemented to enhance reliability and performance.
POSIX Threads have been implemented in HP-UX 11.00. This enables task parallelisation to maximise performance in multi processor systems.
All implementations of the operating system have improved Web infrastructure. This includes kernel threaded Java with JIT compiler, increased performance using SMP and a near linear boost for Java applications. Netscape and Oracle web servers are bundled into the OS and management of the system is via a Java based interface. Although compatibility exists with many existing binaries, real application improvements will only be seen with recompilation. In some cases, due to standards implementation in the compilers, this may mean code tweaking. There are tools available to assist in this process.
The software transition kit is available on the Internet :
http://software.external.hp.com/software/HPsoftware/STK/prod_page.htmland these pages will tell you more about HP-UX 11.00.
The Impact on HP-UX 9.x
One important aspect of HP-UX 11.00 to remember is that when it ships; HP-UX 9.x will become unsupported. The only exception to this, is for users who are running server systems (800 series) and have current software support contracts. The reason for the obsolescence is that official policy states that HP will only support the current and preceding versions of operating system software. HP-UX 10.20 is expected to be supported until mid 2001 and the recommendation is that all users should upgrade to this version.
HP-UX 11.00 is a "PULL" release: HP will notify supported customers, but no-one will receive media unless they request the upgrade. Whether you intend to upgrade right away or not, I would recommend that you ask for the release in order to keep informed and for possible use with future systems.
HP certainly feel that HP-UX 11.00 is a major step forward for users and it certainly puts them ahead of SUN and IBM in the UNIX arena for 64 bit operating systems.
